Japanese Striker Shinji Okazaki Breaks Bundesliga Goal-Scoring Record

Shinji Okazaki celebrates with teammate Benedikt Saller after scoring against Borussia Dortmund on April 19. Okazaki scored twice in the match, but Mainz lost 2-4.

Associated Press

Shinji Okazaki broke the record for the number of goals scored in a single season by a Japanese player in Germany’s Bundesliga, one of the top leagues in world soccer, after netting once again for his club FSV Mainz 05 over the weekend.

Okazaki has scored 14 times for FSV Mainz this season, surpassing Shinji Kagawa, who scored 13 goals for Borussia Dortmund in 2011-2012 before his transfer to Manchester United.

Okazaki, who moved to Mainz from VfB Stuttgart last summer, scored his 14th goal for the club in a 2-0 win against Nuremberg, helping Mainz bolster its position at seventh in the Bundesliga table and in line for qualification to the Europa League, the continent’s second-biggest club competition.

“FSV Mainz 05 remain on course to reach Europe for only second time in their history… with Shinji Okazaki once again single-handedly leading the charge,” the official Bundesliga website said.

Mainz’s remaining two matches in the German league are against Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hamburger SV. Okazaki has more goals this season than the total he scored for VfB Stuttgart in two-and-a-half years at that club. The striker’s tally this season includes five braces (two goals in a match). Twenty-one Japanese players have featured in the Bundesliga. Yasuhiko Okudera, who played in the 1970s and 80s, has the record for most goals in total, with 26. Okazaki now has 24 Bundesliga goals in total.

The 28-year-old’s rich form is also good news for Japan ahead of the World Cup in Brazil, where it is in Group C with Colombia, Greece and Ivory Coast. Japan’s first match is on June 14 against Ivory Coast in Recife, at 10 p.m. local time. Okazaki played in Japan’s four matches at the World Cup in 2010 and scored in the country’s 3-1 win over Denmark.

Shinji Okazaki standing on the pitch after Mainz lost to Borussia Dortmund on April 19.